Fearless Fiction: 3 Ways To Conquer Procrastination Forever

You want to write. You’ve started your novel, or you haven’t. You’ll write “tomorrow”. No matter how many excuses you make however, and no matter how reasonable those excuses are, deep in your heart you know that you’re in the grip of procrastination. Your big fear is that you can’t get free.

Relax. There’s nothing wrong with you, and your writing career isn’t dead. Every writer suffers from procrastination. You need ways to become comfortable with this tendency in yourself, because what we resist, persists.

How to conquer procrastination forever

I’m the Queen of Procrastination. I put off writing for years, never mind weeks. Finally I accepted my tendency to put things off — I could even laugh at myself. From that moment on, my procrastination vanished. These days, it’s only very rarely that I procrastinate, and when I do, I know that there’s something in my Work in Progress (WIP) that isn’t working: I need to rethink. Procrastination has become my good friend.

That’s the key to conquering your procrastination: admit that that’s what you do, and learn to laugh at yourself. If you can accept that you will procrastinate, and that as a writer, it’s your default setting, you can conquer it.

Let’s look at three ways to help you to do that.

1. See through your excuses: admit that you procrastinate, and accept it

Can you admit that you procrastinate? Can you accept that your excuses are just that, excuses?

Admit that you procrastinate — and quash your guilt. Procrastination stems from fear, and we all procrastinate. When you accept that, you’ll be able to see through all your excuses, and will write anyway — no matter how many excuses you have for not writing.

2. Write 50 words a day of your WIP, on your phone, or tablet

You’re procrastinating. Allow yourself to do that.

Just do one simple thing. Grab your cell phone, and write 50 words a day of your WIP, every day.

Why a cell phone? Because your phone ensures that you can write your 50 words a day anywhere. Chances are that your procrastination has woken up your inner censor. He’s fierce, and will overwhelm you if you try to write formally.